Riverstar's home

RiverClan's feline leader grows into his job. Taking center stage in events that have been largely chronicled elsewhere from different points of view in the Warriors: Dawn of the Clans sequence, silver tom Ripple, later known as River Ripple and finally Riverstar, is carried downstream from a Twoleg park to a wilder woodland, where he reluctantly becomes head of a burgeoning group of strays while struggling to reconcile his own love of peaceful coexistence with the necessity of fighting for space and hunting rights against bands of aggressively territorial rivals. Even confirmed series fans may need help from online wikis to keep track of the teeming feline cast--other species have neither names nor speech, and are mostly prey quickly dispatched with an oft-mentioned "killing bite." But many notables, like young Thunder and vicious rogues One Eye and Slash from earlier volumes, pad in and out of view as the Clans coalesce under the guidance of the ethereal spirit-cats of StarClan. A decisive battle with Slash, along with the arrival of kittens and a sharp clash with opportunistic SkyClan, all lead to Riverstar's final choice of home between the park and the river at the close of this stand-alone doorstopper. Feeding, feuding, and fan service: sure to please the felines' legion of followers. (cast list, map) (Animal fantasy. 9-12) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.